What hourly pay do food servers make?

Question

Ok I an clueless and just got hired as a hostess which will pay $8 plus tips. They want me to lean the menu so I can serve. I have not asked just yet what that pays, but what do the average servers make per hour with tips. This place serves home cooked miles, like say a Dennys. I hear places do not have to pay min wage so how do they figure what to pay their servers.

Answer 1

wow! for a hostess for $8 plus tips is a lot already. i used to work at a dine in restaurant and they only paid the servers minimum wage plus tips only.  and it depends how busy and pricey the food are too in order to figure out the tip.

Answer 2

$2.13 per hour is the standardwage for tipped employees.  It's called "tip credit" and can vary slightly per state laws.  If you don't make (or don't declare) enough in tips every pay period to bring this up to minimum wage, then the restaurant has to make up the difference. There are several states (CA is one of them) that mandate that servers are paid the state minimum wage in addition to their tips.  :-)

You'll make a lot more as a waitress than as a hostess...how much more depends on the price point of your restaurant and how good your serving (and SELLING) skills are.

Answer 3

where in the states or in canda? (or somewhere else ) well roughly in canada they pay minumun wage thats about 8 dollarrs an hour

Answer 4

I was paid $3.09 an hour just 5 years ago in the midwest, plus I got to keep almost all of my tips.  (Tipping out the busboy, bartender, but only on Saturdays.)  I figured it up once and I was making $60 an hour.  If you have the knack for serving, that's the job for you!

Answer 5

Most places pay about $2 less than minimum wages/hr. for servers.  This is not always the case though!!  Ask a mgr. to be sure!  As far as tips are concrened, I wish I could give you an average without knowing the average price per dish!  I served at a restaurant whose avg. entree cost $25-30 and there were times I got a great tip($100) and some tips there were total jerks who left change!!  Unfortunately no matter how good you are there is always a chance of getting jipped, and sometimes the jerks outnumber the others!!

Good luck!!

Answer 6

It is less than minimum wage. The IRS allows restaurants to allocate roughly 4$ an hour to servers and tipped employees. So you'd probably make around 3.50 an hour in wages, which would be taken away anyway by paying taxes on the tips you make. The GOOD NEWS is: that even though you work at a place like Denny's, you'll make way more than 8$ an hour in tips, cash. In NYC here, servers at similar restaurants make about 15-20$ an hour.

Answer 7

That's weird. Usually food serves make below minnimum wage ($4-$5 hr) + tips, So what you're getting paid is pretty goood.